Texas governor clears man wrongfully convicted of rape

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) ---- Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Monday
pardoned a man who died in prison after serving more than 13 years
for a wrongful rape conviction.

Perry granted the state's first posthumous pardon to Tim Cole in
Austin after receiving a recommendation from the Texas Board of
Pardons and Paroles.

Cole was convicted of a 1985 rape of a Texas Tech University
student in Lubbock. The Army veteran was cleared by DNA evidence in
2008, nine years after he died in prison of complications from
asthma at age 39.

"I am so happy," Ruby Session, Cole's mother, said from her
Burleson home. "I just know that Tim is up there smiling."

Perry called Session personally Monday after signing her son's
pardon.

"We have a rainy, rainy day," Session said she told Perry. "And
I said, 'Those are his tears of joy."'

In a statement, Perry said he had been looking forward to the
day he could call Session and tell her he'd pardoned her son.

"The State of Texas cannot give back the time he spent in prison
away from his loved ones, but today I was finally able to tell her
we have cleared his name, and hope this brings a measure of peace
to his family," Perry said.

The family had sought a pardon from Perry, who was sympathetic
but maintained he could not legally grant a posthumous pardon. The
state attorney general clarified the law in January, clearing the
way for Monday's pardon.

While Cole's family was happy to receive the news from Perry,
there also was sorrow.

"We do feel very sad that he's not here," said Cory Session,
Cole's youngest brother. "We knew somehow, some way it was going to
happen that his name would be cleared. We just didn't know that it
would come with the tragedy of his death. We didn't know it would
take this long."

Cole is also the first Texas man to be posthumously cleared by
DNA testing. The 2008 test cleared Cole and implicated convicted
rapist Jerry Wayne Johnson, who confessed in several letters to
court officials that date back to 1995.

Johnson cannot be prosecuted for the rape that sent Cole to
prison because the statute of limitations has expired.

Last year, state district Judge Charles Baird pronounced Cole
innocent during an exoneration hearing. Baird said mistaken witness
identification, questionable suspect lineups and a faulty police
investigation led to Cole's wrongful conviction.